102 Pali Wijeratne
countries affected include (in alphabetical order) Ban-
gladesh, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Madagascar,
Maldives, Myanmar, seychelles, somalia, south africa,
sri lanka, tanzania and Thailand. seismic activity and
in particular sea waves of this nature are not as frequent
in the Indian ocean as they are in the Pacific. Therefore,
the unfortunate aspect of this disaster was that it was
not anticipated even though the local experts were not
unaware of such possibilities.
The tsunami of 26 december was a series of waves that
struck the maritime provinces of sri lanka less than two
hours after the main earthquake. The first wave struck Kal-
munai in the ampara district on the east coast at around
8:17 a. m. and continued around the coastal belt to reach
negambo on the north-western coast about 45 minutes to
one hour later. eye witness accounts from various locations
suggest that there were three (in some areas four) main
waves with at least two »troughs« in which the water level
receded a considerable distance from the normal coastline.
The waves at their maximum appear to have reached a
height of eight metres, though in most cases it was much
less. as one would expect, the impact of waves differed
from place to place, and sometimes within the same local-
ity. The topography of the seabed, the coastal morphology,
reefs, sand dunes, lagoons, mangroves, beech vegetation
and other aspects of the natural landscape as well as the
built environment had a bearing on the behaviour of the
waves. It is regretted that no detailed technical study on
this aspect has been carried out.
since the 16th c. and occupation by the maritime pow-
ers, the Portuguese, the dutch and the British, there has
been extensive development in the coastal belt of sri
lanka. This development was enhanced over the last four
decades with increased infrastructure development to
accommodate tourism and fishing industries. The tsunami
took place on the day after Christmas, which was also a
Buddhist holiday, being the full moon day. This was also
the middle of the peak tourist season. all these factors
contributed to a very crowded coastal zone with many
leisure seekers and people visiting their families. Thus,
those affected included the locals as well as foreign visitors
to the country. on the other hand since it was the holiday
season for schools and offices many others had kept away
from the area. Probably the school holidays saved a future
generation of sri lankans since in the aftermath many
school buildings in the coastal belt have had to be rebuilt.
Thus the affected people did not come from a particular
catchment area but perhaps from the whole of sri lanka
and from many other parts of the world.
The Census and statistics department of the sri lanka
Government with assistance from numerous other agen-
cies carried out surveys of the damage to the urban, rural
and other coastal settlements in the affected areas. But
it has been revealed that the survey is not complete or
comprehensive enough to assess the full impact on the
lives of the communities in the affected areas. This survey
included the damage to infrastructure, shops and other
commercial enterprises, employment opportunities, the
hospitality trade and more important the human lives and
the social fabric of the communities. The final report on
the casualty list read: 26,807 killed, 4,114 missing and 23,189
injured. 5,785 children lost one or both parents. 579,000
people were displaced and the livelihoods of more than
that number were lost. 62,533 houses were fully damaged
whilst 43,867 were partially affected. In addition to the
loss of many libraries, much archival material, »ola« leaf
manuscripts and immovable cultural objects were lost
from the affected religious institutions, particularly from
ancient Buddhist temples. over 150,000 vehicles were
completely destroyed or seriously damaged. 259 square
kilometres of rice fields were destroyed. In addition exten-
sive salination of lands had rendered them useless to an
essentially agrarian community. a large number of vehicles
and machinery related to agriculture were destroyed. Many
canals and drains were blocked with rubbish and debris.
underground water sources such as shallow wells (a com-
mon feature in the rural areas) were salinated. Physically
this affected many cultural landscapes in the area. total
financial damage to the country has been estimated at
us$1,000 million and the forecasted drop in the GdP is- 70 (adjusted from 6. 0 to 5. 35%).
Affects on cultural property
With just over 450 years of rule by the maritime powers,
this coastal belt included some of the most densely popu-
lated areas of the country with many natural and human
affected ecosystems as well as a complex and rich cultural
landscape. These included some of the oldest religious
buildings still in use, of Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and
Moslem origin, as well as a range of secular buildings such
as civic buildings, commercial structures, private dwell-
ings, markets, port-related buildings, lighthouses, clock
towers, school buildings, libraries, etc. They depicted a
blend of architectural styles ranging from the local ver-
nacular to the fusion of such vernacular architecture with
the influences of the Portuguese, dutch and British styles.
In addition there were examples of the dual heritage where
the styles of the maritime powers were duplicated in sri
lanka, but using local building philosophy, materials
and methodology, adapted to suit the local climatic and
geographical conditions. There was also a unique urban
form intermixed with various defence bastions from the
past. This was the heritage that was cherished by the local
community and admired by visitors.
to assess the heritage of this area, it must first be
acknowledged that cultural heritage is a fundamental
human right. It should be recognised irrespective of its